Skateboarding is a Great Recovery Pathway

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Let’s avoid the stereotype that skateboarding is just for delinquents

Skateboarding is a great recovery pathway that can help improves your physical, mental, emotional, and social health.

A common stereotype about skateboarding is that it often goes hand in hand with binge drinking, drugs, and party culture. While that’s a lifestyle we want to actively avoid in recovery, that’s not always the case. There is a growing group of people who use skating solely as a means to enjoy the sport and strengthen their body, mind and heart, and bond with each other. These people have been able to cast skateboarding in a light that contradicts how most people traditionally view the sport.

Skating has a reputation for carelessness. But in reality, it’s actually quite the opposite. Skaters need to take care of their mind, body, and relationships. They need to perform the best they can and overcome the hurdles that come their way. This is true for both skating and life, especially life in recovery. Skateboarding teaches several valuable lessons that can easily translate into the rest of life. Through regular practice, skateboarding offers long-term physical, mental, emotional, and social benefits.

Published

06/21/2022

Category

Fitness

Guy heel flipping at a skatepark

The Physical Benefits to Skateboarding

Skateboarding can be a fun alternative to hitting the gym.

The first (and most obvious) physical benefit to skating is balance and a strong core. Having a strong core (abs, obliques, lower back, etc) is an essential factor to skating well.

After you learn good balance, it’s time to learn ollies, kickflips, and the like. Tricks like these involve high impact on joints and need strength training just like benching at the gym. Developing good connective tissue in your joints is another important aspect of skateboarding.

Rebuilding my body with skateboarding has been hard because skateboarding is very difficult. When you’re older, like me, you see the challenge. I knew skateboarding was hard, but I’m relearning how ridiculously hard it is.

Ned Gittings

A girl enjoying the mental benefits of skateboarding

The Mental Benefits to Skateboarding

There are a whole bunch of mental benefits to skating, too.

It boosts the blood flow to your brain, increasing creativity, decision-making, and memory. Skateboarding also releases endorphins in your brain, leading to reduced stress, anxiety, and preventing depression symptoms. Skating is great for anxiety because it forces you to face your fears head on and gain control of your thoughts. This is perfect for people who ruminate on negative thoughts. You’re forced to think about solutions rather than the problem.

Contrary to popular belief, skaters aren’t daredevils. They take calculated risks. They didn’t just jump fifteen stairs on a whim. They worked up to that trick. Skating helps you overcome your fear of failure and getting hurt when you fail. It teaches resilience. Skating is 99% falling flat on our butt and 1% looking cool. This translates well into daily life. You learn the ability to bounce back after experiencing difficulty. Skateboarding fuels creativity, both through finding creative solutions to the problems you face and through self- expression. In some ways, it’s more of an artform than a sport. It helps you disconnect from stress, express your inner thoughts, and even meditate.

When you get on the grip tape and roll, and get that sense of controlling something else that’s not attached to you, it’s a euphoric feeling.

Brandon Turner

Skateboarder carving a concrete bowl at a skatepark

The Emotional Benefits to Skateboarding

Skateboarding offers a sense of progression, boosting your self-esteem.

Skating isn’t about being better than everyone around you. It’s about becoming a better you. It also teaches you to have patience with yourself. This is a crucial perspective to have in recovery. Landing a new trick can take just a few tries or can be a month-long battle. If you lose your temper and let your emotions overcome you, it’ll take longer to succeed. By staying calm, you’re more able to be analytical and determine what’s going wrong. Anger and disappointment will slow you down on your journey. Patience and acceptance are key.

Skating also has the powerful ability to ground you in the present. This makes it an excellent activity for practicing mindfulness. We live in a society that’s constantly looking at screens and being bombarded with information. Get outside and spend time focusing on building a better you, not consuming all you can. Focus your mind on the board, the pavement, where your hands and feet should be. Throw some headphones in your ears and play out your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in the ride and tricks.

This is something I used to love when I was a kid and it’s something I’m starting to find a passion for again because it’s progression. You can always get better. It’s similar to recovery because every day is about progression.

Dylan Phillips

Kick turning on a quarter pipe while giving friends a high-five

The Social Benefits to Skateboarding

You can build an amazing community through skateboarding.

This is another crucial factor to growing in your recovery journey. You can bond over your mutual interest in skating and even develop mentor relationships with each other. Even as an older skater, you can develop a sense of community with a younger crowd than you normally would. You can be the voice of encouragement and wisdom to young kids that might be heading on the same path that you were on. This can provide a deep sense of encouragement to yourself as well. You feel like you’re vicariously changing your own past.

No matter your level of skill, skate culture is all about getting better. Once you land a trick, everyone will be ready to cheer and high-five. This part of skateboard culture transfers from generation to generation if you let it. You get to be the cool dad or mom. What’s cooler than having a dad that still knows how to skateboard? Teaching your kids how to skate is a great way of bonding with your kids. By sharing the love of skateboarding with your kids, you will improve the relationship with them. Imagine riding down the street with your oldest son or daughter and watching all the smiles of the people driving by.

When I go out and I skate, that’s all I’m really thinking about. I’m not thinking about using, I’m thinking about the tricks I’m doing. It’s a way to be mindful and in the moment for me, and the community that I’ve grown through skateboarding is a very supportive one

Brandon Laferriere

Conclusion

Key takeaways

  • Skateboarding is a great alternative to hitting the gym
  • It’s a great workout for balance, strength training, and cardio, burning 400-800 calories an hour
  • Skating battles anxiety by forcing you to face your fears head on
  • Skateboarding teaches you resilience, something you can take into daily life
  • Skating teaches you self-patience and gives you self-esteem through progression
  • It’s also an excellent activity for practicing mindfulness
  • Skateboarding is as much of an artform as it is a sport
  • It offers creative problem-solving and self-expression
  • You can build a sense of community through skating, both as a novice and as a mentor
  • You can pass the love of skating to your kids and use it as a way to bond with them.

Challenge

Apply to your life

Like most sports, buying your way in can be a little expensive if you get the right gear. However, you can find cheap boards at places like Dick’s Sporting Goods or Walmart to get your start. Or maybe you used to skate and can pull your old board out from the closet or garage. No matter where you are in life, I encourage you to take an hour this week to grab a board and ride.

Conclusion

Key takeaways

  • Skateboarding is a great alternative to hitting the gym
  • It’s a great workout for balance, strength training, and cardio, burning 400-800 calories an hour
  • Skating battles anxiety by forcing you to face your fears head on
  • Skateboarding teaches you resilience, something you can take into daily life
  • Skating teaches you self-patience and gives you self-esteem through progression
  • It’s also an excellent activity for practicing mindfulness
  • Skateboarding is as much of an artform as it is a sport
  • It offers creative problem-solving and self-expression
  • You can build a sense of community through skating, both as a novice and as a mentor
  • You can pass the love of skating to your kids and use it as a way to bond with them.

Challenge

Apply to your life

Like most sports, buying your way in can be a little expensive if you get the right gear. However, you can find cheap boards at places like Dick’s Sporting Goods or Walmart to get your start. Or maybe you used to skate and can pull your old board out from the closet or garage. No matter where you are in life, I encourage you to take an hour this week to grab a board and ride.

A Recovery Community Center in Chesterton, Indiana.

This location is also the studio and homebase for content creation on Artistic Recovery. The team of professionals at Three20 conceive, draft, and edit many of the articles you find here. These recovery resources are a collaboration between certified recovery coaches, creative writers, fitness trainers, artists, musicians, and chefs. Most importantly, our content is written for people in recovery, by people in recovery.

Ty Walker

Ty Walker is a contract copywriter and graphic designer with a huge heart for recovery. He has spent the last five years serving churches and recovery communities with his creative skills. Ty spends his free time writing poetry and fictional short stories as well as hiking, biking, and kayaking with his wife, Angie, and his two daughters, Winter and Ember.

Credit where credit is due

Portions of this article were originally sourced from The Bridge, Toronto Guardian, skateboardershq.com, and People Magazine. If you would like to check out additional recovery articles, videos, and podcast episodes, check us out at artisticrecovery.org.

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Contrary to popular belief, skaters aren’t daredevils. They take calculated risks. They didn’t just jump fifteen stairs on a whim. They worked up to that trick. Skating helps you overcome your fear of failure and getting hurt when you fail. Skating is 99% falling flat on our butt and 1% looking cool. This translates well into daily life. You learn the ability to bounce back after experiencing difficulty.

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